Reawakened
by OptimalAlpha
Summary: Arcee was a battle-hardened soldier during the War for Cybertron, but now she's the well-respected owner of a manufacturing conglomerate and the (reluctant) representative of Cybertron's female population. Jack was just a senior in high school, but that was before he was forced from his home on Earth. In another life, they would've already shared a bond. What does this world hold?
1. Refugee

**OptimalAlpha: ** So, uhhh… Despite the fact that I'm working on another story entirely, I decided that I wanted to start publishing this drabble series. Right now, I'm working on transitioning over from my original fanfiction accounts that I've had for several years on Quizilla and Lunaescence and this is one of my favorite series that I started to work on but didn't get too far along with. So yeah, I'm going to start publishing the chapters on here instead. I already have like 5 to 6 chapters written and I think you can find chapters one through four posted elsewhere, so I'm telling you right now that if you've seen this series somewhere else, it _is_ mine. The different profiles, including this one, list the different affiliations. I repeat, this _is _my series, but I'll only be posting new chapters when I get a certain amount of views or reviews. Thanks for the support! Hope you enjoy and once again, please review.

Disclaimer: I do believe that I am going to go and cry my 'wittle eyes out because Hasbro owns Transformers and I do not. Except… I've already come to terms with this, sad as it may be.

Overview: So this is a ArceexJack fic. I hope that all of you guys will read it and enjoy. I am a huge fan of ArceexJack and this is basically like a drabble series (they go in order like chapters but I try to write them with at least 1000 words or less) set in AU TF: Prime. Also, I'm kinda combining this story with Transformers: Rescue Bots a little. There's an AU Blades (from RB) in here too and he's basically Arcee's assistant/butler. That sort of concept might confuse a few people at the beginning, but hopefully you'll catch on. Everything about this series is pretty much AU.

Warnings: Everyone on this website who has the balls to be searching around in the "M" rated section _should_ know what this story could possibly entail. Usually I list specific warnings in my chapters for other stories I write, but this one is a lot less mild than some of the other things I've written. All other warnings be damned, you've been warned by the rating itself.

* * *

**Refugee**

With one hand holding her helm, Arcee continued to sit at a wide desk in the middle of her private office. She was sighing in exasperation every few seconds as she looked over datapad to datapad and then tried to file the key information away into her computer's hard drive. The task was more than worth its weight in a giant processor ache and anything but pleasant. Perhaps other femmes would have jumped at the chance to be in her peds, but she wouldn't have stayed with the job a nanoklik longer, if it wasn't for the fact that her people needed her. She was honest with herself; it was more than clear that she was a femme programmed for one purpose: battle, and most certainly not for running a franchise.

When a knock came at her office door, Arcee's head turned upwards and she silently thanked whoever it was for the interruption.

"Who is it…?"

"Femia, you're guest from Terra is here," her assistant and keeper, Blades, replied. The metallic door then slid open and a tall, orange and white bot stood in the doorway. "Would you like me to show him in?"

"Guest…?" The blue femme lowered her optic ridges in confusion. "I wasn't expecting anyone."

"Actually, Femia, you were." The mech came forward and placed a stack of papers on Arcee's desk. "Remember when you promised to take in a refugee from the far nexus, since you sided with Optimus Prime at the last Council meeting on assisting the organic allies?"

She trailed off for a moment in thought, but then the memory grazed her processor. It wasn't unexpected for her to forget things though; she was an important political figure all across Cybertron and she had an incredibly hard time of keeping up with her schedule and appointments, hence Blade's presence.

"Hmmm," she offlined her optics, then activated them again, slowly, in the form of a blink, "It slipped my mind." She waved a hand dismissively. "Alright, show him in."

"Of course; he's just outside the door." The mech made his way towards the entrance, but stopped short with his head over his shoulder. "Oh, and Miss…?"

"Hmmm…?"

"Try to remember that he's supposed to be more like a close friend to you… not an annoying business partner."

The blue femme huffed.

_A close friend… riiiight._

Despite the fact that she was initially quite friendly, Arcee held a strong opinion that there was a large difference between acquaintances and friends and an even _bigger_ difference between friends and family.

Taking up an expressionless face, Arcee offlined her optics once more and waited for her guest to come in. Within moments, she heard the door slide back again and–though they were extremely light–she could hear the thudding of peds as the guest walked into the center of the room and took up a stance not too far from her desk.

Sending a silent prayer up to Primus to help her with patience, Arcee opened her eyes…

And what she saw more than shocked her.

At an instant, the first thing she noticed about her guest… was that he was human. Though she'd been told that her guest was organic, she hadn't really been expecting a bipedal organic of such similarity. He was tall, especially for someone of his age and species–taller than she, had she been standing–but the only reason why she could tell so was because when he'd arrived on Cybertron, the officers at Iacon must've used mass displacement to scale him in comparison to Cybertronians. Had he been standing before her otherwise, she knew from some datapads she'd skimmed on humans that he would've been the perfect size to simply fit in the palm of her hand. He had–they called it "hair", didn't they?–yes, raven black hair that was short and thick with oddly shaped, yet endearing, dark umber optics. Overtop of his smooth, light peach skin–which she suddenly had an urge to touch–his lower half was covered by a dark blue material and his upper half by white.

There was a serious, yet gentle, and somewhat distant look in his optics…

For some reason, when their gazes touched for the first time, she felt her spark jump and her body's heat level rise. She had to gather her processor's broken pieces before she could even speak.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you," she fumbled out. "I'm Arcee."

He seemed to be examining her as well, but she watched in fascination as the corners of his lip components managed to turn upwards and he placed a hand behind his head in what looked like embarrassment.

"Yeah, ummm… same," he breathed, "I-I'm Jack."


	2. New Room

**OptimalAlpha: ** Alright, so since everyone has been totally awesome in the past six hours, I decided to post a second chapter for today. But I need everyone to keep in mind that, like I said before, these are just drabbles that fit together as chapters. I know there are probably a lot of questions people might want to have answered, but there's only so much I'm willing to write and so much that can be answered in about 1,000 words. Nevertheless, I hope you remain patient with me. This chapter was actually written a long time ago and I already had it ready for you. From here on out, hopefully I'll be able to update this series every three to five days, but no promises. There's another story I'm more interested in writing right now than this one. Thanks for all the love and please continue to review!

**This story HAS been posted on a few other websites under my respective aliases. Please do not confuse this with plagiarism.**

**Notes**: Some of you might be a little confused with some of the terminology I used in the last chapter. "Femia" is actually a title I came up with myself; it basically translates to "milady" or is used to address a Cybertronian female of high stature. If you have the hankering to use the title in one of your stories, it's totally cool with me—just make a note of me somewhere in the first chapter that you use it, please and thanks.

Disclaimer: I do believe that I am going to go and cry my 'wittle eyes out because Hasbro owns transformers and I do not. Except… I've already come to terms with this, sad as it may be.

Warnings: Everyone on this website who has the balls to be searching around in the "M" rated section _should_ know what this story could possibly entail. Usually I list specific warnings in my chapters for other stories I write, but this one is a lot less mild than some of the other things I've written. All other warnings be damned, you've been warned by the rating in itself.

* * *

**New Room**

A bit rigid in her movements, Arcee continued to walk down one of the hallways in the main section of her large villa. Behind her, her house guest, Jack, followed. Even after the small introduction the two of them had shared, she still knew little about the human, and he of her. But then again, she wasn't even sure if he wanted to share much information at the present…

What Arcee _had_ learned was that he'd originally been a student on Terra, undergoing a form of general education and working a part time job, preparing himself before he went off to study his primary field; he had expressed an interest in joining the military. She'd also learned that he'd been part of a small family back on Terra–one that consisted of him and his creator. Furthermore, he was from a small town called "Jasper," which was in a city state called "Nevada," which was then within an even larger nation called "The United States" and a continent called "North America."

…Put simply, she'd learned through this one boy that humans were more confusing than she would've ever guessed possible.

Though she'd heard—from mechs and femmes who'd encountered humans before—that the species was both resourceful and complicated with different lifestyles, it was still shocking now that she was experiencing it firsthand. She'd originally thought all organics were supposed to be dense, yet the intelligence shinning in the boy's optics was more than clear.

Rounding another corner, she couldn't help but stand on edge with Jack's hot air–his "breathing"–falling not too far from her right shoulder guard.

"Where are we going?" he questioned.

"To your quarters," the blue femme replied. "I'd forgotten that I was expecting you, but Blades was preparing a sufficient room for when you arrived. It's near the back of my residence."

The male tipped his head to the side.

"A 'sufficient' room…? I thought I was just going to get a room like anybody else's."

"The fact that you're human means that you need different resources than the rest of us do. It's simple."

"I… I'm sorry for the trouble."

"Don't worry about it." She turned her helm over her shoulder. "I wasn't the one who had to make the room in the first place; you can thank Blades for that."

The blue femme watched in wonder as the young man suddenly came up from behind to walk at her side, braver than before.

"Yeah," he managed to murmur, "but I wouldn't be surprised if it cost you a lot."

"I told you not to worry about it," she frowned momentarily. Arcee wasn't one who liked to repeat herself. "I have so many credits to my name that I hardly know what to do with it all."

_And it was true, she did._

"A-Alright…"

Before long, Arcee had guided him atop a large case of stairs and in the center of a cutoff was a pair of huge doublewide doors. At the side, there was a small, metal box hanging on the wall with a slider and a small keypad. Within moments, the blue femme produced a keycard and handed it to the raven-haired male. It was a form of security that was a bit obsolete in these stellar cycles–usually Cybertronians used indirect mind-link for access to a private room–but it was still quite sufficient for small precautions.

"I have a spare," she told him, "but try to keep up with this one. If you find yourself in an emergency, there's also an override code you can type in: 616-555-6232."

The number seemed to catch the human's attention.

"That's my old cell phone number."

She couldn't help but smile at the expression on his face and the warm feeling that she'd had earlier in her office seemed to return anew. In all honestly, Arcee had no clue what a "cell phone" was, but it didn't really matter.

"Then it should be easy for you to remember," she grinned. "Blades also knows the override; he and I will be the only ones with access outside of yourself. Go on, try it out."

Arcee watched as Jack stepped forward and slid the metallic card through the system. There was a series of small beeps and then a green light flashed before the large doublewide doors suddenly slid back, revealing the room inside.

Instantly, a look of surprise covered the human's features; she questioned whether it was a good sign or bad. But to be honest, the design of the room surprised her as well, until she realized the significance of it all.

"W-What is this place…?" He muttered.

The entire expanse of the room was divided into two areas, but everything was filled with organic substances and even other living organisms. The right side of the room was occupied by many different green, small, and soft looking organics–plants, she identified–that grew out of the ground alongside other green and brown organics that rose above her and Jack's heads. For as far she could see, she could also identify many even smaller organics that sprouted out of the soft, green ground in various shades of pink, yellow, and red. But to the right, opposite to this, was a body of water so great, it almost looked like one of the "lakes" she'd seen in the Terra datapads. At the side of the lake, atop a wide expanse of cream-colored and soft looking mineral, she spotted furniture–a berth, a storage unit, and a few other pieces–that were also made of organic material. Above, a synthetic sun shone, but it was hard to tell at first glance whether it was fake or not.

"Your room, of course," she replied.


	3. Well, That Sort Of Makes Sense

**OptimalAlpha: ** Here's chapter three. Thanks for all the love and support! If there's anything you might like to see in the future, drop me a review with your suggestions in it. I'm not saying that I _will _fulfill all of the requests/suggestions, but if there's something that I really like that I see in the reviews I might add something in later to go along with it.

**This story HAS been posted on a few other websites under my respective aliases. Please do not confuse this with plagiarism.**

Disclaimer: I do believe that I am going to go and cry my 'wittle eyes out because Hasbro owns Transformers and I do not. Except… I've already come to terms with this, sad as it may be.

Warnings: Everyone on this website who has the balls to be searching around in the "M" rated section _should_ know what this story could possibly entail. Usually I list specific warnings in my chapters for other stories I write, but this one is a lot less mild than some of the other things I've written. All other warnings be damned, you've been warned by the rating in itself.

* * *

**Well, That Sort Of Makes Sense...**

"Ughhhh…"

Jack groaned as he continued to lie upon the soft bed beneath his body. The bed felt like a miracle to him; he hadn't had comfort in _any_ form in what seemed like ages and the sensation of the feather top mattress and pillows with the thick comforter and cool wind brushing against his skin had him reeling on the edge of unconsciousness. It was so nice; he could hardly put words to it. But there _was_ one bad aspect to this arrangement…

It reminded him of home.

_Earth…_

Silently, Jack's eyes turned up towards the sky.

The people here, the robots—the "Cybertronians" as they called themselves—were so strange. He was more than grateful to them, but… he'd been on Cybertron less than a full Earth day and their differences were already irking him. Before he'd departed from the landing station at Iacon, the doctors there had given him a sort of physical. Every time they asked something of him, like "Let me see your optics," or "Does this frequency interfere with your audios?" Jack had to be forcibly handled by the nurse; it took him a while to realize that "optics" were eyes and "audios" meant hearing or ears. These people didn't even call Earth by its proper name; they called it "Terra"—a term that was practically dead. And Jack silently patted himself on the back for the decision to take Latin in high school, instead of French; otherwise, he wouldn't have even known that much. But their differences in terminology were only the beginning in the long list of contrasts.

Before he could fall into a peaceful slumber, Jack sat up on the king size bed and began to fiddle with the metal device in his hand; it was the size of a dime and it looked like a round computer chip, but Blades had assured Jack that this would be his main form of communication to his hosts—a "comm. link" they called it.

"Man, these people are crazy," he mumbled to himself, bringing up a hand to hold his face.

He could remember the conversation that he'd had with Arcee only about an hour ago, whenever she'd revealed his quarters to him; Blades had shown up not along after.

"_W-What is this place…?" He muttered._

"_Your room, of course," she replied._

"_No offense, Arcee…" He paused, eyes still wide. "But it looks more like a jungle than where I'd sleep."_

"_A 'jungle'?"_

_Oh, that's right… She only understood half of what he said._

"_What I mean is that this looks like a place where animals would live… not humans."_

_He could see the confusion in her mechanical eyes as she tried to process what he'd told her. There was a pause and then she reached for an invisible device on her head, where her ear would have been._

"_Blades?" She called over her comm. system. "Could you come down to Block Beta?"_

_Within a couple of minutes, the butler had presented himself._

"_What's wrong?" he questioned in his usual, friendly tone._

_The blue femme looked to Jack, prompting him._

"_Uhhh…"_

_He couldn't help but pause; he felt bad imposing on Arcee and now even worse for complaining._

"_I know what you're thinking," Blades interrupted, coming up to wrap an arm around Jack's shoulders—the bot and he were almost the same height. "This isn't anything like what you used to live in, right?"_

_Jack shook his head slowly._

"_Well, that's because I had to improvise." He released the startled human and stepped forward, gesturing towards the earthen habitat. "I know that a lot of you humans usually live apart from your 'nature' when it comes to most matters, but it was the best I could do."_

"_What do you mean…?"_

"_You see, here on Cybertron we don't have the natural resources you need to survive—water, oxygen, yadda yadda yadda. Zip, nada, nothin'!" He grabbed Jack once more and dragged him into the jungle. "That's why all of this is here. It used to be part of an organic garden for a noble—they like to flaunt themselves with these kind of unusual things—until we bought it and had it transported, where I could fix it up for you here." Blades smiled at his new best friend. "Now, with this, you should be able to survive."_

"_Hold on," Jack paused again, thinking over what he'd just heard, "so if there's not oxygen on Cybertron, how is it that I can breathe?"_

"_Well… There is oxygen on Cybertron, but only a small, concentrated layer of it. The medics at the landing dock probably implanted you with a filter chip that'll help you with breathing when you're awake and moving around."_

_Jack brought up two fingers to touch at the sensitive area on his neck, where he could remember the doctors inserting some sort of mechanical device that he couldn't, until now, indentify._

"_But this place will be safest for you whenever you're trying to recharge and your intakes are shallower. All you'll need is right here."_

Jack sighed and leaned back on his bed again; he had to admit that this place was beautiful, despite that it was initially awkward. Unlike most kids from Jasper, Jack loved to camp in the woods and he was no stranger to it; the surrounding garden was vast and promised a good amount of exploration for him. Turning his attention to his right, he watched as a mosquito tried to dive at him from of above; when it got too close, it lit up in sparks, the small fried body falling to the ground seconds later.

Well, at least with the invisible field around his bed (which he could activate and deactivate at any time), there wouldn't be any unwanted pests crawling around on him at night.

Examining the comm. system once more, Jack became curious and placed the small chip inside the canal of his ear. A gasp escaped him whenever the device recognized his DNA and attached itself deep inside of his hearing scheme. For a moment, Jack could feel the presence of the chip and then it was like there wasn't anything there at all. He waited several long minutes and when a series of beeps went off, as though inside his head, he practically jumped.

["Jack?"] A familiar, feminine voice called.

["Uhhh… Hello?"] He called back questioningly.

["Good. You figured the system out."] He could practically hear the smile that was tugging at her lips on the other side of the line. ["Listen, I'm going out to buy a few things. Would you like to come along?"]

He had to think about it for a few seconds before he could respond, but he already knew what his answer would be.

["Sure."]


	4. Not The Norm

**OptimalAlpha: ** Super double thanks to anyone and everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed. Your support is very much appreciated! Nothing much to really say right now besides that, so… here's Chapter 4. Please continue to review!

**This story HAS been posted on a few other websites under my respective aliases. Please do not confuse this with plagiarism.**

Disclaimer: I do believe that I am going to go and cry my 'wittle eyes out because Hasbro owns transformers and I do not. Except… I've already come to terms with this, sad as it may be.

Warnings: Everyone on this website who has the balls to be searching around in the "M" rated section _should_ know what this story could possibly entail. Usually I list specific warnings in my chapters for other stories I write, but this one is a lot less mild than some of the other things I've written. All other warnings be damned, you've been warned by the rating in itself.

* * *

**Not The Norm**

Though he didn't like the thought of looking like a squeamish liability to his host, Jack couldn't help but walk a bit close to Arcee as they roamed the lower streets of Iacon. It was a common reaction now that, with every building that they passed, anyone who was standing outside—and some even inside through windows—would gawk in his direction. They didn't actually say anything to make him or Arcee upset, but there was no way that he could mistake their insistent whispering for casual chit-chat.

_["Just ignore them,"]_ she told him through the comm. link. _["It's obviously rude, but most of them haven't ever seen an organic before, so it's to be expected."]_

It had taken a bit of practice to get used to, but the blue femme had shown Jack how to use the link mentally, rather than verbally. All he had to do was reach out towards her frequency with his mind and he could say anything he liked through thought; it was a lot like the telepathy he'd seen in science fiction movies.

_["Talk about sticking out like a sore thumb,"] _he commented.

_["What…?"]_

_["Uhhh… Nevermind."]_

He didn't have the patience to explain another one of his Earth expressions for now.

Apparently they were headed towards the home of one of Arcee's closest friends and a trusted military associate, Ratchet. Though he was supposed to have been a big hotshot like the blue femme, he still chose to live in the lower dominions of Iacon. Before long, Arcee had dragged Jack into a back alley and then through a connecting street, until they were in front of a large silver door; there was a huge sign above the top half of the building. It was written in Cybertronian, so Jack couldn't read it.

"This is it," she announced with a glance over her shoulder.

Arcee took a small step forward and then the door slid in on itself; they stepped inside, the human more cautious than his companion. It was almost entirely pitch black inside. They walked down through a narrow hallway and then it eventually expanded into a brightly lit room filled with computers and lab equipment. In one of the far corners, Jack could see a mech with white and red armor attending to something, murmuring to himself as he worked.

"Hey, Ratch, where are those supplies I needed?" Arcee approached the older bot from behind.

Jack walked into the center of the room, but then stood at a halt to watch from a distance.

"Scrap," Jack heard the old mech scowl while he continued with his work. "You always come in at the worst of times, Arcee!"

A little curious of what the old medic was doing, Jack walked around to Arcee's side and then peered around the remedial berth in front of Ratchet. There was another mech lying there, though he didn't look to be in the best of shape; he was painted in a deep red hue with a cone-shaped helm and a pair of wings. The majority of the mech's upper body was completely torn open and Ratchet was fishing through the ripped wires with cautious fingers, replacing them, and then sealing the hull with a small torch. Yet, it looked like there was much more to do than just this simple replacement surgery.

"There's only so much time until this flier comes back online and if I'm not finished by then, I'll have to induce a second stasis override!" He grumbled, sparks still soaring in the background from his torch. "I'm trying to run a business here, small as it may be. You _know _not to bother me while I'm working. I can't afford to be distracted while I'm—"

At that instant, the doctor exchanged a glance with Jack, who was now standing close at his side. Ratchet's eyes were wide; he stopped working.

"Uhhh… Hello?" Jack offered in a meek voice.

"Arcee," Ratchet never looked away from Jack, but addressed the blue femme at his left. "_What _have you brought in here?"

"Ratchet," Arcee placed a hand on her old friend's shoulder, "this is my _house guest_, Jack."

"_House guest?_"

The word sounded foreign when it came from the medic's lips.

"Yes," she replied. "He's staying with me while his home planet is cleared of some decepticon stragglers."

"… It's organic."

"Yes," she grinned into the answer, "_he _is."

"Are you're sure that _he's _entirely sentient?"

Jack couldn't help but frown a little.

"Hey, if you have questions, you could ask me, you know?"

Ratchet gazed at Jack with a serious expression for a moment, then reached out and grabbed the teenager by his forearm. He pulled Jack in close and began to examine him thoroughly—the mere sensation of Jack's smooth skin gliding underneath the medic's digits was enough to elicit a strange reaction from the red and white mech, which showed when he jumped slightly. Once he'd recovered from the shock of it all, he seemed only that much more curious. In a matter of seconds, he had inspected Jack's eyes, mouth, nasal cavity, and pulse. The moment he was finished, his wide optics returned to normal; he let go of the organic to turn back to his current patient, torch again in hand.

"A human," Ratchet stated with an expressionless voice.

Jack was too busy rubbing his watery eyes—strained by Ratchet's inspection scope—to reply.

"Is that a problem?" Arcee tipped her helm.

"An excessive need for fuel, highly susceptible to various sedimentary viruses, a sensitive and pliable exoskeleton, but," Ratchet sighed, "still much more tolerable than one of those dreaded reptile hybrids."

Jack's expression was dry.

_["Don't mind him,"] _Arcee tried to sooth her friend through the comm. link. _["Ratchet's always been a little rough around the edges, especially with new faces."]_

"Alright, now that the two of you are familiar," Arcee placed her hands on her hips. "Where's that order, Ratchet?"

"Argghhh," Ratchet grumbled briefly. "Far counter, right side, third box back."

The blue femme went to the directed area and Jack followed curiously. It only took about five seconds for Arcee to find the intended parcel. Without much delay, she opened the metal box and they both peered inside. There were several rows of long, thin vials running from front to back inside of the package; the liquid within the vials was a vivid, cerulean blue. The initial shade was beautiful, but suddenly Jack was getting a weird vibe from the whole situation.

"What is that…?" He questioned.

"It's a secret," Arcee grinned.


	5. Every Word

**OptimalAlpha: ** Sorry I've been gone for a while. 'Been working on my longer story for quite some time, then during the earlier months I had to deal with my dreaded University. Trying to get back into the roll with all of my fiction. Thanks for all the love and support for all those who reviewed, favorited, and followed! Hoping to have another chapter out not too far behind this one. Also, this might come off as a dumb question, but if you review could you also include a small answer to this question: When Prime ends, would you still be interested in reading more of this fic? Just wondering because I know once a series ends (even though there's supposed to be a Prime movie in the fall) the popularity goes down on here, and the new Bayverse movie will be what's coming out next. Thanks.

On another note: These drabbles might stray off from the main storyline sometimes, depending on what mood I'm in when I write them. True to the artistic stereotype, I always just write what I feel or what comes to me at the time, just like what I did for this chapter.

**This story HAS been posted on a few other websites under my respective aliases. Please do not confuse this with plagiarism.**

Disclaimer: I do believe that I am going to go and cry my 'wittle eyes out because Hasbro owns transformers and I do not. Except… I've already come to terms with this, sad as it may be.

Warnings: Everyone on this website who has the balls to be searching around in the "M" rated section _should_ know what this story could possibly entail. Usually I list specific warnings in my chapters for other stories I write, but this one is a lot less mild than some of the other things I've written. All other warnings be damned, you've been warned by the rating in itself.

* * *

**Every Word**

It was like they were in a trance with one another—a hypnotizing reel of reoccurring, hot-felt images—as the human, Jack, and the Cybertronian, Arcee, sat across from one another. Though it seemed like they weren't even conscious of the other's presence, every time one of them had the chance to do so, they'd sneak in a sideways glance while the other had their attention turned elsewhere.

In the blue femme's left hand was a datapad that'd been sent to her from Optimus Prime, her right lying to the side haphazardly; she focused on reading economic updates concerning Kaon to avoid making embarrassing optic contact with Jack for the millionth time that day.

A certain line of data caught her attention:

**Nearly Five Thousand with Shortage of Energon**

"Hmmm…" She suddenly seemed genuinely interested.

Since the end of the war, the decepticon capital had been questioned of its further usefulness; its citizens were in a great deal of poverty and the new Council, her included, would have to step in soon if things were to be made right.

In front of her, Jack was sipping on a glass of water and reading his own datapad upon the current events taking place on Terra, via an English translation from the original Cybertronian.

However, when Arcee felt a strange sensation brush against her extended hand, she nearly jumped. Her optics turned and registered that a certain someone had reached out to hold her servo within his own… Well, perhaps not "holding" her hand, but had extended his to merely cover the other. Suddenly, the blue femme found her spark whirring at an incredibly fast pace; she was glad that it was hard for humans to pick up on energy signatures, motility fields, or even some Cybertronian gestures.

Yet, her processor was pulled away from her nervous feelings whenever her optics then traveled even further up his form and came at a halt with his endearing pools of dark umber. She ceased to function for a brief klik when she recognized a sense of sorrow and perplexity upon his features.

"Arcee…?" He questioned, his gaze downcast.

"W-What is it?"

"The situation with Earth… it's not going to get any better, is it?"

Silently, his brown optics came up to meet her crystal blue ones as well. That one glance shot through her with so much pain, it felt like she was on the battlefield again and a sniper had nailed nigh short of her spark chamber.

"I… I don't know," she answered candidly. "But I'll be honest… Things aren't looking that good."

His face fell slightly; all of his feelings were held in those treacherously expressive optics of his.

"Optimus and the others are giving it their all to do what they can to help your people," Arcee spoke again.

"You mean the _rest _of my people," he whispered back solemnly.

At an instant, she turned the hand that was holding her own over and gripped it reassuringly in her metallic digits. She didn't know why, but she felt something for this young human; she wasn't sure what that "something" was just yet, but it was deep…

"Stop being discouraged."

With her other hand, the blue femme reached out and took the datapad from Jack's grip; she turned the screen over and pushed it down onto the table.

"Stop reading those." Her face was indecipherable. "_I_ know better than anyone that you have to be confident through hard times. When all you've got is yourself and a couple of good swings, don't _ever _let someone tell you that anything is impossible."

She watched as his lip components parted at the sound of her words, taking them in slowly and thinking over them.

_When they'd been at war, there had been more times than she could count where she'd honestly thought that the decepticons might take over, or that her life-force might be extinguished. Yet, this hadn't stopped her from believing, and here she was today because of it._

Jack blew out a soft sigh.

"And what happens when you _don't _have a couple of good swings? What if you _are _it?"

_She __**had **__to instill the will in him to fight—to not give up hope— even if it was the last thing she did…_

"You're _not_ alone," she told him in a reassuring voice. Her hand tightened around his. "You have me."

_She meant every word that she said._

"And you can always fight on. Don't ever think that you can't."

She watched in confusion as the lower part of his face began to turn from creamy peach to light red.

His gaze curved to the right, where they were no longer in contact.

"T-Thanks," he breathed and then paused. "… For everything, I mean."

She smiled sincerely, knowing that she'd briefly distracted him from the moment at hand and had given him a small sense of confidence.

"Anytime you need me, kid."

_She __**always**__ meant every word that she said._


	6. Chems

**OptimalAlpha: ** Number six up within twenty-four hours of the last one, just because you guys are great and I owe ya. Already working on number 7; should have it done by tonight, but I'm going to probably post it Wednesday or Thursday. Thanks for all the love and attention! R&R, please!

**This story HAS been posted on a few other websites under my respective aliases. Please do not confuse this with plagiarism.**

Disclaimer: I do believe that I am going to go and cry my 'wittle eyes out because Hasbro owns transformers and I do not. Except… I've already come to terms with this, sad as it may be.

Warnings: Everyone on this website who has the balls to be searching around in the "M" rated section _should_ know what this story could possibly entail. Usually I list specific warnings in my chapters for other stories I write, but this one is a lot less mild than some of the other things I've written. All other warnings be damned, you've been warned by the rating in itself.

* * *

**Chems**

"Hey, Blades…?"

"Yeah?"

"Is there something you need to cue me in on…?"

The tall, orange and white mech stopped storing energon cubes into a ration dispenser to turn his attention to the human at his side. Both he and Jack were standing in the back of Arcee's personal lounge, restocking a few refreshments that had hit empty on the containment units. Over the course of the last few weeks, they'd found themselves constantly in one another's presence. Not long after he'd arrived planet side, Jack had requested for Arcee to allow him to "work for his room and board." Whether it had been out of guilt or good intention, it was a proposal soon met by disappointment—no one within the walls of Iacon would ever let an organic pull weight in their name. So, he'd resolved himself to become Blades' assistant of sorts.

"What are you talking about?"

From the top of one door, they had a clear view of two bots—a mech and a femme—sitting not that far away. Jack and Blades were just out of ear shot.

"Arcee and… that Cliffhopper or whatever."

"_Cliffjumper_," he corrected his human friend.

That flashy red autobot in question had a suitable name to match his quick wits and smart mouth.

"He's Femia's friend. You've seen him around enough to know that."

"Yeah, that's just it," he folded his arms. "He's around too much—too much for them to just be… friends."

_This _caught Blades' audio—was he about to ensue in some good gossip?

"So what's the story on them?"

"Arcee and Cliffjumper used to be running partners during the war. Mind though that Femia's never been one keen for a two-bot team—not after what happened to her old colleague, Tailgate. She prefers solo," he faded into a secretive whisper, lip components laced into a tight smile. "Or at least, that's how she was before _he _all but proved his name right and butted in."

"So, what now…?" Jack tilted an eyebrow. "He a stalker she can't shake?"

For a third party, Blades couldn't help but note that Jack had an odd choice of words.

"Cliffjumper's never been a fan of the social media, not that Arcee is either, but he sort of faded into the background whenever she decided to take her spot amongst the Council. He comes over now and then though to chat—and he doesn't stop, if you haven't noticed."

"_Now and then…?_" Jack narrowed his eyes. "He's been here every day for almost two weeks."

"It _is _kind of strange," Blades conceded. "But it's not outlandish for all sorts of mechs to come see her."

"So she's pretty popular?"

Only just yesterday, somehow they'd gotten on the subject of intimate relationships between the two species. Turns out, there was a lot more likenesses between organics and non-organics when it came to courtship than what either one would have ever suspected.

"_Very _popular," Blades found himself chiming once more. "There's at least a thousand interested, but I usually throw out the more _unbecoming _proposals when they make their way past her public network… just between you and me."

"Hmmm…"

Jack continued to stare out the window, watching the two bots in question. They were both sitting on what could be considered a long metal couch, speaking to one another contentedly, and Arcee was laughing more often than Jack or Blades had ever seen. It might have been something to brush off if it wasn't for the fact that there was physical contact—Cliffjumper's hand resting on the femme's upper hip plating—and the glint that flickered in her gaze every so often as they casually downed small doses of high-grade. Blades knew that his friend would have probably been eavesdropping on the pair by now if it wasn't for the fact that he couldn't understand the Cybertronian dialect.

"I wouldn't worry about it so much, Jack. It's probably just another part of Femia's experiment."

"_Experiment…?_"

Jack's voice was laced with confusion and this caused the butler's optics to widen.

"You mean… She hasn't told y-"

He stopped midsentence and then quickly turned forward to start refilling the containers again.

"Told me _what_?" Jack placed a hand on the mech's shoulder and turned him back around. "What experiment?"

"Oh, it's uhhh… It's nothing," he rambled nervously. "Just a little social research, nothing interesting."

_If Femia hadn't told Jack about her latest research endeavors—warned him about it—she must have had a good reason. And probably wouldn't be too happy if he broke the news before she did herself._

The white and sunset colored mech started to sift through his processor for a good distraction.

"Besides," he smiled mischievously, "why are _you _so interested in Arcee?"

"Why _wouldn't _I be interested?"

Blades' optics lit up and went wide.

Jack noticed the new expression and could place it anywhere.

"I-I mean on the whole subject! Not just her!" He stuttered.

A distinct shade of red covered his friend's features. Whether or not he was human himself, Blades could spot embarrassment when it reared its clever little head.

"Suuuuure," he grinned from audio to audio. "But you know, if you're attracted to her, it's not anything to be ashamed of. After all, there's plenty after Arcee."

"It's _not _like that," he shook his head as the blush deepened. "She's just done a lot for me. I don't want anyone taking advantage of her or anything like that."

"Trust me, Jack, if anyone's going to be taking advantage between the two, it's gonna be team blue by a land slide."

_...Especially with experimental chemicals running through Arcee's veins._


	7. Instincts

**OptimalAlpha: ** Yeah, in case you haven't noticed, I like to pull people's legs with cliffhangers. My apologies... sort of.

**This story HAS been posted on a few other websites under my respective aliases. Please do not confuse this with plagiarism.**

Disclaimer: I do believe that I am going to go and cry my 'wittle eyes out because Hasbro owns transformers and I do not. Except… I've already come to terms with this, sad as it may be.

Warnings: Everyone on this website who has the balls to be searching around in the "M" rated section _should_ know what this story could possibly entail. Usually I list specific warnings in my chapters for other stories I write, but this one is a lot less mild than some of the other things I've written. All other warnings be damned, you've been warned by the rating in itself.

* * *

**Instincts**

"Can I come in…?"

Through the hazy depths of her processor, Arcee offered a feeble glance towards the entrance of her office and noticed a raven-haired male standing there. She had been suffering from a series of hot flashes only just moment's prior—surges of excess energy traveling through her systems from core processor to the smallest of sensors. Now, the worst of the "pay period" had ended and she could experience the ignorant bliss of the aftereffects. Again, her body argued that she needed to be sated, but in a much more pleasurable way this time…

"Arcee…?" The same voice prompted her.

The blue femme raised her head high enough to slide foggy optics over _his_ form. His peach skin and expressive facials were enough to remind the female that it was a human who stood before her, not a Cybertronian, like previous ethics demanded. But it didn't matter anymore… It was still a male.

A seductive smile laced her lip components and she found herself reaching out a limp hand in his direction, curling fingers forward and signaling him to approach. When he took the first step her way, she couldn't help but smirk in satisfaction.

This male was falling into her trap… just as so many others had done before.

"Arcee, are you okay?" He was standing in front of her kliks before it even registered in that jumbled psyche of hers. "You're practically steaming. I can feel the heat running off your body from here."

Something soft—the softest substance she had ever felt—ran over her forehelm and along the side of her face in a comforting manner, a colder surface briefly relieving the scorching rust desert that was her mind. _Then_, only then did she realize that he'd caused this relief… His caring touch—a simple glide of the hand along her features—had created the astounding sensations that she'd felt.

"Should I call Blades?"

Her optics snapped wide and her own hand reached forward, grabbing the tall male by his waist. Soft material ran beneath her metallic digits as her palm passed over his useless coverings on a path to the front of his body.

_Everything_ about him was soft and alluring. _So soft…_

Why hadn't she conquered _this _male yet?

"You're not calling anyone," she managed to ex-vent heavily. "I think you can handle a little maintenance work on your own."

Her hand reached the center of his abdominals and then drifted lower, groping a hidden prize behind a thin covering of material. Yes, he was _definitely_ male…

"And it looks like you've got the right equipment for the job," she purred.

He'd gone completely frozen by this point, but a startled gasp rewarded her audios. She felt fresh lubricant collecting behind her lower panel. It surprised her a little when the human began to tremble slightly.

…_Anticipation?_

"Show me what the end of _your _species can do," again she smiled, slender fingers running along the clothed underside of his shaft and teasing there.

When he started to react—his length instantly growing hard and erect—she felt utterly prideful. Just as the blue femme was about to run her hand up under the male's top covering and down into the lower one to squeeze his interface accordingly, his large palm covered hers. Dark brown eyes stared down into her blue optics with… slight confusion and fear?

Immediately, the reality of things flashed before Arcee and her vocal processor nearly hung open in disbelief. It was like a veil had been lifted and she was truly seeing him for the first time.

"Jack…?"

A light shade of red covered Jack's features, but within his deep eyes—the same ones that had awoken her from the hypnosis—was another new emotion: anxiety.

Immediately, Arcee pulled her hand away from the human with a pale expression. She wore embarrassment and shame like a fresh coat of paint.

"Jack, I… I'm sorry. I didn't know it was you. It… It must have been a technical glitch in my systems or-"

"I know it was an accident," he breathed evenly. "But… _are you okay, Arcee?_"

Her gaze turned upwards once more. The red tint to his features was now gone; he was simply concerned for her. Instantly, the blue femme's shame grew ten-fold.

Jack was truly a good spark… to worry for the one who'd almost sexually assaulted him.

"Things have been a little hazy lately," she admitted after a moment. "Hard to concentrate, hard to grasp reality…"

"Are you sick?"

A disheartened grin flitted across her features.

Cybertronians did not catch "sicknesses" like organics did, unless it was a plague or a rare super virus.

"No," she shook her head. "It's… it's like my subconscious mixes with my root instincts… and I find that I can't think straight anymore."

"Does this have something to do with your experiment?"

Arcee's form grew rigid. Everything outside of a stern expression was gone.

"Who told you this?"

His eyes couldn't meet the femme, but the answer was written all over his face.

…_Blades._

"What all do you know?"

"Nothing," he breathed, "in all honesty."

"Good," she replied quickly. "It should stay that way."

"But, Arcee… you're not yourself."

"I'm aware of that," she frowned, "and I'll see to what needs to be done."

She was shoving him away.

"Arcee… you've done so much to help me when I needed it most. Isn't there something I can do to help _you_?"

"Jack, this beyond your control," she narrowed her gaze. "And this is something that I_ have_ to do by myself."

"I don't understand…"

"If you want to help, Jack, then stay as far away from me as you can."

It hurt her to see him gazing back with such open pain.

"For how long…?"

Her spark tugged her in one direction and then another.

"Until I can figure out how to break this on my own," she ex-vented. "Even when I approach you first, always be wary."

_What she'd feared was true. The serum made her react to all males, no matter the species._


End file.
